Liu Xinglong was born in the ancient city of Huangzhou in January 1956. He is the chairman of the Hubei Provincial Federation of Literature and Literature and the deputy director of the Novel Committee of the China Writers Association. Representative works include the novella "Phoenix Qin", "Autumn Wind Drunk", the long novel "Holy Heavenly Gate" (three volumes), "Cockroach", and the long poem "The Plateau Walking with The Chest". He has published more than 50 kinds of novels, such as "Liu Xinglong's Collected Works" and the prose collection "Loneliness Like Heavy Metal". The novel "Skywalker" won the 8th Mao Dun Literature Award, the novella "Picking Tea leaves to Beijing" won the 1st Lu Xun Literature Award, and the essay "Holding My Father Back to Hometown" won the 7th Lao She Prose Award.
Recently, Mao Dun Literature Award and Lu Xun Literature Award Double Prize winner Liu Xinglong's new work "If coming to Japan is long" was launched by the Writers Publishing House, Liu Xinglong used his personal experience and the feeling of being in the front line to write this long documentary essay, which described in detail the specific details of relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and people in the same city who are familiar or unfamiliar with the epidemic from a rational and objective perspective, and showed the "desperate" spirit of the people of Wuhan in fighting the epidemic with a large number of facts and practical actions, so that people understand why Wuhan is here." Heroic city", why the people of Wuhan are "heroic people".
In 2020, due to the new crown epidemic, Wuhan was locked down for 76 days, and the beard of Liu Xinglong, a writer in Wuhan, also stayed for so many days. At first, the beard was closed at home and did not have to go out, so it was not trimmed, but I did not expect the situation to develop into a later situation, Liu Xinglong said that he had some gambling with the new crown virus: "I want to see if it is the new crown virus that hurts people for a long time, or whether his beard has grown long." ”
Unexpectedly, Liu Xinglong's beard was actually grown for two and a half months, 76 days, and on the day when the wuhan was unsealed - at 00:00 on April 8, 2020, Liu Xinglong shaved it without hesitation. Liu Xinglong jokingly said that he could not be a "hairdresser": "My grandfather has a goatee, how can I escape the inheritance between my grandfather and grandson?" ”
Looking back at 2020, Liu Xinglong said: "The epidemic is a very special mirror, and none of the human worlds are special. The obsession with man is not life or death, but from the process of life to death, the asceticism of humanity, the naked running of human nature. ”
Narcissus in 2020 does not bloom
Under the epidemic situation, flowers and spirits, let alone people
The prose collection was named "If you come to Japan for a long time" because Liu Xinglong had previously composed lyrics for the war "epidemic" song "If you come to Japan for a long time", "After being composed into a song, the response was not bad, and he simply reconsidered some intermittent texts into a 180,000-word long prose, and the title of the article was also called "If you come to Japan is long.". From the old mother who was seriously ill at the peak of the epidemic to the death of the second uncle because of the secondary disaster of the epidemic, as far as possible from the subtleties, showing a Wuhan family under the 'lockdown', men and women, young and old, within their ability, and the life feelings they think and think. ”
In the song "If you come to Japan for a long time", Liu Xinglong wrote about the daffodils in 2020, wrote about his mother's dream window, and his father's wine was only half a glass. Liu Xinglong said that trapped in the isolated city, 2020 daffodils do not bloom, is the first sentence he wrote in the days after the epidemic. He revealed that one of his wife's friends would send daffodils in advance every Spring Festival, just in time to bloom during the New Year, but after receiving daffodils in the Spring Festival of 2020, they did not see flowers for a long time. "After the song was sung, a few friends said that they thought it was just that their own daffodils did not bloom, but they did not expect that your family's daffodils did not bloom either."
The lyrics of "Father's wine is only half a glass" is inspired by a friend. The friend's daughter was a doctor, and she was going to the front line, and the friend took the wine glass and said that it was for her daughter to go on a grand trip, and after only one sip, she could no longer drink it, turned her back, and shed more tears than she drank. Liu Xinglong said: "Under the epidemic situation, flowers and spirits, let alone people. The friend's family was all right afterwards, and we never touched on these two lyrics. The sensitivity of the human heart can only be understood, and there are many things that cannot be said. ”
Liu Xinglong also said that a doctor at Union Hospital made a short video of the song together with various images taken by hand during the "epidemic" for an activity of his medical team. She only said in WeChat that colleagues think this song is really good! Of course, I knew that I could not say the second sentence, so I only replied with the word thank you. Because if you continue to talk about it, it will inevitably be tears falling like rain. During the epidemic period, the overall situation among our immediate family members was quite good, that is, the old mother was seriously ill and could not go to the hospital, which made people feel sad. Just after the epidemic, the old mother reported that she was critically ill three times in a row, especially the third time, even the ICU room gave up the rescue and let her return to the general ward so that the family could accompany her. After staying up for more than forty days, I finally survived. When the old mother was discharged from the hospital, the doctors and nurses present applauded her, claiming that it was a miracle. Looking at the kind smile that reappeared on the old mother's face, I really felt that my mother's body was full of miracles from head to toe. ”
The battle "service" fights the fireworks of the human world, and guards the streets and alleys of the city
In the "Afterword" section of "If you come to Japan for a long time", Liu Xinglong's "answer to reporters' questions" for "Literature and Art Daily", "China News Weekly", "Chutian Metropolis Daily" and "Southern Weekend" is recorded. Liu Xinglong said that before the "lockdown", he suffered from eye diseases, and after the "lockdown", the inability to heal became more and more serious, causing a lot of psychological pressure. Liu Xinglong, who slept well before, often had insomnia during the epidemic, and in order to supplement the protein that could enhance immunity, Liu Xinglong said that he had no taboos during that time, and the fat he ate was more than usual, and as a result, the weight was not increased, but reduced by three kilograms, from 69 to 66 kilograms. During that time, he also tossed around for more than ten hours because of a food poisoning, "that state is very much like the stroke of the new crown virus, and people are almost collapsing." "And one of his young friends was a reserve officer who was ordered to lead the reserve soldiers to support Vulcan Mountain Hospital." From the opening of the Vulcan Mountain Hospital to the closure of the Vulcan Mountain Hospital, the whole process does not require him to contribute to the rough work, only need to be on duty there. After withdrawing from Vulcan Mountain, the friend who was not sick and painless from beginning to end lost a total of 20 kilograms of weight, "the only reason is high tension."
During the "lockdown" of Wuhan, Liu Xinglong said that his family was "a big mouth", a family of three generations of six people, for the first time living together under the same roof for so long. "Especially in the first three weeks, all aspects are not prepared, the daily living is not adaptable, the living materials are relatively lacking, the psychological state is not in place, so many people are together, sometimes there is no movement for several hours, and even it is time to eat, and no one even agrees to shout a few times." That silence is deeply disturbing. "Fortunately, there is an 8-year-old granddaughter around, and there is always a chance to make the family look like a happy paradise." In addition, everyone in the family has work to do, some preside over the website work, some translate urgently needed materials for a foreign university, some brave the epidemic to go to work every day, and some take online classes in universities and primary schools. After the fifteenth day of the first month, everyone was busy with their own work, and only then did they really ease up. ”
In Liu Xinglong's view, Wuhan has survived many disasters in its history. But from the perspective of people, efforts, and things, it has never been like this, no matter what role you are, what position you are in, everyone is doing their best to fight against a virus that has never been seen before, an epidemic that has never been seen before. In the face of new crown pneumonia, there is no need for a death squad-style charge, but absolutely everyone is like Shangganling. More than 10 million Wuhan people stayed at home and fought with every cell of life. Some things are done and done, and there is no need to nag too much. Thousands of households are all fighting the "epidemic" on the front line.
Liu Xinglong's family is also volunteering, and Liu Xinglong, who suffers from eye diseases, feels that he is "burdensome" and only "can still play a starting point in the family defense line". So in the dead of night, he dressed himself from head to toe, carried a family of six household garbage "generously" out of the door, "the children will not let me do this, but I still insist on the last day of the 'lockdown' without landing, which can also be regarded as a weak effort to fight the 'epidemic'." A person's health is unharmed, which is the powerful combat effectiveness of the 'epidemic' in the lockdown battle. After putting the garbage away, take a minute to look up at the night sky and take a deep breath. Through the mask, I still feel the freshness under the nebula, just like that night, more than ten million people shouted 'Wuhan refueling' to the window. ”
Liu Xinglong said that in the past, Wuhan was the three towns of Wuhan on the two rivers and four banks, it was life and existence, and after experiencing the epidemic, it was the intersection of life and death: "In the middle of January 2020, in order to treat eye diseases, for many consecutive days, I did not wear a mask, I did not wear a bare mouth in the hospital, I don't know how many times I rubbed shoulders with the new crown virus, the kind of fear at that time, it was really grass and trees, the shadow of the bow and snake, the heart was terrified, fortunately, after all, it was safe and sound, these memories and experiences made people have more vicissitudes about this more and more fashionable city. ”
What made Liu Xinglong feel most unforgettable was that Chinese New Year's Eve, a large domestic transport plane that urgently transported anti-"epidemic" materials landed at Tianhe Airport. Liu Xinglong and the child are both military fans, and when they saw the TV footage, they shouted in unison: "Luck 20" is coming! After a cry, I couldn't help but burst into tears. Liu Xinglong said: "From the moment of the 'lockdown', the people of the whole country have made concerted efforts to give their families and support. Later, I learned that the 'Yun-20', as a heavy weapon of a big country, was all flying to Wuhan, and that kind of shock was not difficult for military fans to fully appreciate. During the epidemic, I couldn't volunteer because of my eye disease, but I also did something. After Wuhan was reduced to a low-risk area, the family of a new crown pneumonia patient sent me a pennant and a thank-you letter, and I did not meet for this reason, so I put it in the office of the provincial federation of literature and literature, and I am still embarrassed to open it. Someone suggested sending it to the Anti-Epidemic Museum, and I don't want to do that, which would be even more embarrassing. ”
Liu Xinglong believes that the "epidemic" in Wuhan is fighting fireworks in the world, guarding the streets and alleys of the city, and the earthly state, bit by bit, is not like the unbearable weight in life, nor is it like the unbearable lightness in life. These inadvertent heartfelt expressions show that the cells of the city are still very fresh, everyone is still so loving and good at life, and no matter how much pressure is, they will not lose the pursuit and enjoyment of the joy of life." Ten million people are shouting wuhan to cheer, but they are actually cheering for themselves. Ten million people love hot dry noodles, but in fact, they are collecting thousands of pampered oneself. ”
That night, go to Jianghanguan to bid farewell to "old opponents"
On April 8, 2020, the lockdown of Wuhan ended, Liu Xinglong recalled: "At 00:00, the family embraced each other with open arms, whether the lady and the children had tears, I couldn't take care of it, after releasing my arms, I rushed to the bathroom, while wiping my eyes clean, while shaving my beard." After shaving his beard, the family remained in the living room, not drowsy at all. At about 00:30, the idea of going to Jianghanguan suddenly began to see. When we arrived at Jianghanguan, it was already 0:50, and there were many young people on the street next to the river, where they jumped up again and again to let their companions capture with their mobile phones. At that moment, I suddenly remembered that before the Spring Festival in 1948, in order to escape the arrest of members of the Communist underground organization by the Kuomintang military and police, my father, who was a worker in a cloth factory in Hankou, got on a small steamer from the Jianghanguan wharf and fled back to the countryside of Huanggang. The area around Jianghanguan is a frequent visitor, and it has never been so associated with it before. It is often said that thinking carefully is extremely frightening, and I am probably afraid of extremely careful thinking. I also thought that after the Spring Festival in 1990, I said goodbye to a writer's brother in front of Jianghan Pass, and it wasn't long before that brother died of illness. From ancient times to the present, the area around Jianghanguan is a large wharf, and I don't know how many human separations have been interpreted. Think about it this way, in the early morning of April 8, 2020, everyone went to Jianghanguan, how can it not be to send off the old opponent who often jumps out to conduct an all-round test for mankind? ”
After the end of the epidemic, everyone cheered and asked whether they were full of confidence during the anti-epidemic period, Liu Xinglong said: "As for confidence, it is not full of dissatisfaction, life should be like this." Some time ago, a CCTV film crew went to the factory where I had been in the company for ten years when I was young, and I was surprised to learn that I was an advanced producer every year when I was a turner in the workshop. They have interviewed some cultural people who have worked as workers before, and very few can be called good workers and qualified workers. Therefore, the confidence I understand is nothing more than to sincerely face the life in front of me, respect myself and others who work hard, not puffy, not prostrate, and happy that I can complete the work that must be completed that day. I was born lonely, and after the 'lockdown' of Wuhan, there were still so many people who took the initiative to greet and support. Sometimes, being deeply moved is also a kind of confidence. ”
Liu Xinglong thanked many friends for sending him protective materials during the epidemic, saying that at the beginning of the "lockdown", even medical staff lacked protective equipment, and he thought of helping them no matter what. He re-read all the contacts in his phone from beginning to end. As long as you feel that the other party may be related to the medical institution, regardless of 3721, send a text message or WeChat. "The moment my fingers brushed the screen, I didn't think about it at all, whether it was appropriate or not to do it myself. The crisis in Wuhan has eased slightly, the mood is a little more solid, and then think of a series of presumptuous and abrupt moves before, and even got the support of so many writers, I think only one sentence can explain: in the same boat, mutual trust! The literary world is very small, and there are three or six or nine people in the middle, most of whom are familiar. Literature is very large, as large as the mountains rise, and the sea is boundless. ”
Indiscriminate liver fire, indiscriminate use of brute force, too rude is not literature
What do you want to do most after the end of the epidemic, Liu Xinglong's answer is: "Of course, it is to cure the eye disease first, so far, I have done two surgeries, stabbed dozens of acupuncture, and taken more than 100 chinese medicines, although ophthalmologists said that there is only a 20% cure probability, I am still quite optimistic." I also can't allow myself to be unoptimistic, because the second part of the bronze trilogy that I have always wanted to do is waiting for me to write. ”
The epidemic has obviously made Liu Xinglong think more about life. He said that the human life and life have always been changing, but the epidemic has magnified this change, so that everyone can clearly see the difference between the past and the present. The criterion for the superiority or inferiority of individuals in human beings is whether they are evolved, degenerated, or solidified. Human wisdom is incomparable to the virus, I am afraid that some people will take stupidity as wisdom, and the stupid things they do, even the virus will laugh off their teeth.
For the mission of literature, Liu Xinglong also has a deeper understanding: "Literature is not a special tool in the hands of writers, it must be the presentation of people's souls." The more unusual the moment is encountered, the more we can't be discouraged by emotion, chaotic liver fire, indiscriminate use of brute force, too rude is not literature. ”
Liu Xinglong believes that recording the various evils of this world is not the mission of literature, the mission of literature is to describe the conscience, conscience, great goodness and great love displayed by people when evil occurs; recording the glory of this world is not the task of literature, the task of literature is to show the pain, groaning, shame and struggle experienced by people before the glory comes. Literature can't do the moon, nor can it do the sun, and it can do the starry sky. I'd rather be as pale and powerless as starlight at the moment, and definitely don't let out evil fires.
Liu Xinglong admitted that literature under the "lockdown" is a kind of exploration of his own, and he cannot find the ready-made experience left by the sages, let alone what style he can provide to future generations. In "If you come to Japan for a long time", although he writes about several medical friends who "self-promoted" in the line of fire and assumed great responsibilities in a humble capacity, he still feels that this is just us who are trapped in the line of fire, using relatively one-handed literary elements to prepare for a future literary genius. "So, I write about a person or a thing as completely as possible. For example, a head nurse I know who hasn't seen a young child for 55 days and talks to each other on the phone every day. It was difficult to get out of the isolation ward and walk to the door, but the child hid behind the door, and with a heartfelt voice, the milk sound did not want the mother to enter the house, saying that the mother had a virus. Her mother also did not let her into the house, and handed her a few favorite delicacies from afar, and she squatted in the stairwell outside the door to eat, and then turned around and returned to the hospital. How should such humanity be aestheticized, and how should such family affection be expressed? Don't say one "Plague", even if you use ten "Plagues", you can't say the usual and special of Wuhan's 'lockdown'. ”
As for how to heal the psychological pain caused by the epidemic, Liu Xinglong replied: "The scientific problems cannot be solved by ordinary people, the economic problems cannot be solved by ordinary people, and the psychological and spiritual pains that are always needed are always the simplest way to be the most effective: companionship!" When I wrote this "If I Come to Japan for a Long Time", the most important experience is also these two words. ”
Text/Reporter Zhang Jia Courtesy photo/Xiaoyi